The Oncoming Storm
by Yuki Seki
Summary: This is the sequel to "Haru's Resolve". Their third year of junior high school has kicked off and Haru starts stepping up into her position as a full-fledged member of the Vongola Famiglia while trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy for her father and Kyoko. This coming school year is going to be a wild ride. Rated T for language and violence.
1. Prologue: What the Cherry Blossoms Hid

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Yuki here (obviously) ^_^ How's the new year been treating you guys so far? So far 2014 has been filled with broken windows, blue screens, & WoW for me. I'd intended to do a bit more writing during my break, but that sort of didn't happen-I did get some done though ^_^

On that note:

Welcome to **Oncoming Storm, **the sequel to** Haru's Resolve. **I'm really excited to be working on this one (even if my productivity isn't really showing yet)-it was already in the prewriting stages when I was drawing **Haru's Resolve** to a close, but thank you to those who intimated they'd like to see a sequel to **Haru's Resolve** ^_^ it really gave me the push to move forward with this one.

**Oncoming Storm** expands out a little way from Haru to encompass everyone's favorite reluctant mafia boss and his chain-smoking right-hand man (I kept that aspect from the manga). As the summary says, it takes place primarily during their third year of high school. I'm not sure if this will be what most people will expect, but I do hope you'll hang with me until the end of this one too.

**_Katekyo Hitman Reborn!_** and the affiliated characters belong to Akira Amano-I'm just yoinking the world again and spinning out my own post manga thread ^_^ The original characters (old friends from **Haru's Resolve** and some new faces will eventually surface) and the story line are of my own creation.

Thanks again for reading! (Reviews are awesome if you've got the time ^_^)

Now onward!

There's a storm brewing...

(As a note, this one is likely to be updated on more of a every-two-week or so schedule for now-sorry!)

If you've read Haru's Resolve (which I would suggest, though it isn't required ^_^), the prologue here takes place during and after Haru's heart-to-heart with Tsuna-from a different PoV.

* * *

**Target 00-02: What the Cherry Blossoms Hid**

Hayato Gokudera kicked the stone in the middle of the sidewalk and watched it skitter along the concrete until it eventually rolled to a stop in one of the crevices. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and heard the crackle of his cigarettes and swore before dragging them out. He pulled one out and put it between his lips, lighting it quickly before he placed the pack in the side pocket of his backpack. After the entrance ceremony, Judaime had excused himself and vanished leaving just him and the baseball idiot to try and figure out what they were going to do with the rest of their free afternoon. He'd ditched Yamamoto at the train station, saying he was headed to the library because he knew that Yamamoto wouldn't follow. He turned into one of the parks deciding that he'd take one last look at the cherry blossoms while they were still around, a storm was supposed to be hitting tonight and it would likely spell the end of cherry blossom season.

He wasn't sure what drew him, but he spotted two people sitting beneath one of the larger trees in the park and as his feet drew him closer, his eyes went wide. He raised a hand to greet Judaime, but snapped his mouth shut when he saw who his companion was. That stupid woman reached out and touched Judaime's hand and they seemed to be deep in conversation. He watched the two balefully until Judaime actually held the stupid girl's hand and said something with that serious look that Gokudera knew all too well.

He quickly ducked behind one of the other trees as the two rose and packed everything away. The stupid woman left first and the Judaime glanced in Gokudera's general direction. "Did you have to follow me, Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna asked.

Gokudera jumped and came around the tree. "Judaime…" he began and sighed, running his hand through his silver hair. "Believe it or not, it was actually an accident. I got bored with the baseball idiot's company and left. I headed towards the library, but wound up here instead."

Tsuna looked doubtful, but his expression relaxed a bit after a few moments and Gokudera breathed a sigh of relief. There were times when he was guilty of nearly stalking the future Vongola Boss—he just didn't want Tsuna to wind up in trouble without his right hand man to back him up—but he didn't really want to be blamed for something when it wasn't what he was doing.

Tsuna started walking down the sidewalk and Gokudera fell in step beside him, realizing that he didn't have to slow himself quite as much as he used to. "Did you find out what you needed to?" Gokudera asked, taking a deep draw of his cigarette and expelling the smoke into the air.

"Yeah," Tsuna said quietly.

They walked quietly for a long time and then Tsuna spoke up. "I've decided I have no choice but to accept this," he said reluctantly.

For a moment, Gokudera wanted to ask what exactly 'this' was, but then he realized that Tsuna was talking about his situation in general and likely the mafia in particular. "Oh?" Gokudera prompted, it wasn't often Tsuna just talked to him—he usually seemed more comfortable with Yamamoto, which pissed Gokudera off to no end. "Did the stupid woman say something?"

"She's not stupid," Tsuna said absently and then he sighed. "Haru just pointed out something that I've been trying to ignore since this whole mess started."

"What was that?" Gokudera asked.

"She pointed out that because of everything that's happened there's no way I can escape, no matter what I want to do," Tsuna said. "She said that even if I swore off everything to do with the Mafia, the Vongola, the rings, everything…somehow, someday, someone would show up to challenge me anyway and they might drag you guys into it."

"We can handle anything anyone throws at us," Gokudera said.

"But wouldn't it be better if we're prepared for that eventuality?" Tsuna asked quietly.

"Judaime?" Gokudera asked, his eyes going wide.

Tsuna held up his hand and looked at it as if he'd never seen it before in his life and then slowly clenched it into a fist. "He really didn't give me much of a choice," Tsuna grumbled, relaxing his hand and letting it drop to his side. "And she's not giving me much of a choice either."

"She?" Gokudera repeated.

"Haru," Tsuna said. "She said that after she came back from the future, she determined that she didn't want to see anything like that happen if she could do something about it. She asked Reborn to help her learn, but he turned her down so she found another teacher."

Tsuna fell silent again and then turned to look at Gokudera, his brown eyes nearly unreadable in the failing light. "Haru said that she wants to protect everyone and, while she doesn't want to be on the front line, she fully intends to continue training so that she can protect those we have to leave behind when we fight."

"That stupid woman said that?" Gokudera asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Tsuna said.

Gokudera shook his head in awe and paused to stub out his cigarette and drop it into the trash receptacle before he continued along the path with Tsuna.

"So what do we do now?" Gokudera asked.

"Get through middle school, I guess," Tsuna said. "I'm not going to plan anything after that yet. I don't even know if I'll get into high school."

Gokudera wanted to laugh and tell Tsuna that of course he would get into high school, but he knew just as well as Tsuna that it may not be in the cards. "What happens if you don't get into high school?" Gokudera asked.

"I'm not sure yet," Tsuna replied.


	2. Ch 1: The Looming Storm

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Hello lovely people! I almost failed this week at getting the new chapter prepped and ready to go, but I managed to overcome it. The convesation in my head went kind of like:

_Me: I really need to get this chapter edited and put up. _

_My Brain: But you're 20 episodes behind on Kuroko's Basketball and you haven't even started the new season of Magi. _

_Me: But…I promised a new chapter this week. _

_My Brain: They won't mind a little bit of a delay. _

_Me: How long of a delay are you talking?_

_My Brain: A couple years won't hurt…_

_Me: Screw you *turns on Reborn music and opens the chapter* I'm going to write this with my dying will…_

Folks, I introduce you to my brain—on fandom -.-

In other news, this got a little bit longer than I intended. I basically had to write a rather large chunk of the chapter from scratch as I realized that the original drafts I had of the first few chapters of this fiction were not working-and that may very well be why it's been hard to get it going. However, I think I've hit my stride now, so hopefully no more hiccups in my posting schedule.

As mentioned before this one is going to be updated on more of an every other week schedule (at least for now), so the next part will be out around March 6th.

I also apologize in advance for the awkwardness and possibly OOCness that is me writing Mr. Extreme, Ryohei Sasagawa. I like him as a character, but he's a bit more difficult for me to write than the others (though this story only touches on him, much like the KHR series itself did—he doesn't have nearly the on-screen time that Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, the girls, etc. do).

As always, KHR doesn't belong to me, the world and characters thereof are the property of Akira Amano-sensei and I am just hijacking them for my own personal use because I want to see more XD The story line, original characters I introduce, etc. are all mine ^_^

Thanks again for reading!

Please R & R and if you've any suggestions for writing Mr. Sun Guardian a bit better, please let me know!

* * *

**Target 01-02: Looming Storm**

The bell rang at Namimori Elementary School as Haru Miura stopped outside of the school gates. She'd agreed to pick up the kids from the elementary school to ensure that they would return to the Sawada house safely. Haru almost didn't recognize Lambo out of his characteristic cow suit and with his hair at least tamed a bit with a shorter cut, but easily recognized I-Pin as the two ran up to her. Tsuna had insisted on Lambo's hair cut in order to curb the likelihood of the young Bovino hitman taking dangerous weapons to school since he primarily used the massive fro to hide them in. Lambo had, of course, hated every minute of it, but had been sweet-talked by Nana's offerings of his favorite dinner and sweets if he behaved. I-Pin had easily taken to the girls' uniform though her hair was still caught in a single pigtail on the top of her head.

"Lambo-san wants cake!" the boy declared as soon as she came into view.

"We still have to wait for Fuuta-chan, Lambo," Haru reminded him. "We're going to leave together."

"Haru-nee!"

Haru turned and smiled at the boy with the dirty blond hair running towards her, carrying an oversized backpack. Bianchi seemed to emerge from nowhere and Haru blinked. "Good afternoon, Bianchi-san," she greeted her. "Why are you here?"

"Reborn was worried about someone trying to kidnap Fuuta and asked me to watch after him," Bianchi said, flipping her pink hair over her shoulder. "I'm the only one that doesn't have to attend school right now and so, in the name of love, I'm watching after him."

"It was strange today," Fuuta commented. "I almost didn't remember to answer when they called me Sawada. It's nice going to school again though."

"Well, your adoption was just finalized over the winter break," Haru said with a gentle smile.

"Us too," I-Pin said, beaming at them.

Haru smiled—all three children now bore the same last name as Tsuna-san since Nana had convinced Iemitsu to sign for their adoption so that they could properly look out for them. "Lambo-san is Lambo-san, I don't need a last name," the dark-haired boy said, picking his nose.

Haru picked up Lambo and I-Pin took her other hand. "We're going to go by Namimori Middle and pick up Kyoko-chan and Chrome-chan too, but we might have time for ice cream before we get you home."

"Do you have this handled, Haru?" Bianchi asked her.

Haru cocked her head for a moment and then realized what she was asking and nodded. "If anyone tries anything, Haru can handle it," she said. "It's been quiet since Dani was taken."

"Don't let your guard down," Bianchi said firmly.

Haru shook her head. "Don't worry," she said her eyes suddenly serious. "I've heard the rumors too."

Bianchi nodded and headed the opposite direction and Haru walked with the kids, chatting with them cheerfully as they made their way to Namimori Middle School. They reached the gates just as the first waves of student were exiting and Haru waved to catch Kyoko's attention.

"Oh, everyone's here today!" Kyoko exclaimed as she approached and picked up I-Pin as the child hitman held her arms up. "How was school?"

"Bo~oring," Lambo said and went into a laundry list of complaints, including how Bianchi had taken the grenade and the ten-year-bazooka that he'd brought for show and tell.

They listened to the children chatter as they made their way through the shopping district, stopping by one of the ice cream vendors to pick some up much to the kids' delight.

"So, you're headed back to Simon after all?" Tsuna asked Enma as they gathered their books.

"Yeah, you've got enough back up here in Namimori, it would be better if our Family made sure that area was secure," Enma replied. "Or that's what Adelheid decided. I miss our udon shop there; they just don't make it the same here."

Tsuna couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "You'll have to take me there some time," he said.

Enma beamed at him. "Anytime you want to visit, Tsuna."

"For sure," Tsuna smiled and the two shook hands.

They exited the classroom and were met by Adelheid and Gokudera.

"Ready to go, Enma?" Adelheid asked.

"Yeah," Enma replied. "I want udon."

"Take care, Enma," Tsuna said.

"You too," the Simon Decimo smiled.

"What was that about?" Gokudera asked as they walked away.

"They're moving back to Simon," Tsuna sighed.

"They're leaving Namimori?" Gokudera looked surprised.

"Yeah," Tsuna answered. "They feel like they'll do more good there than here in Namimori since we Vongola seem to have things well in hand."

"Of course we do," Gokudera smirked.

Tsuna rolled his eyes a bit and turned, heading for the baseball practice fields, Yamamoto requested that Tsuna meet him there after he got out. "Can't we wait until his practice is over in the library?" Gokudera scowled. "We have the high school entrance exams to go over to make sure that you get into Namimori High."

"Gokudera, school just started! We have months before we have to even worry about it!" Tsuna protested.

The silver-haired demolitonist sighed and trudged after Tsuna to the baseball fields as the team was finishing their practice and Yamamoto spotted them immediately. The Rain Guardian clasped forearms with Kaoru before jogging over towards them. "I can tell Enma's already given you the news?" Yamamoto asked, stopping in front of Tsuna.

"Yeah," Tsuna said and shifted his bag on his shoulder.

"It's too bad, I was hoping to invite them to the party Pops wants to hold for us," Yamamoto said.

"Party?" Tsuna asked.

"To celebrate making it to our third year of middle school," Yamamoto grinned. "Are you busy on Saturday night around eight, Tsuna? Gokudera?"

Gokudera said nothing, waiting for Judaime to respond first. If Tsuna was going, of course he, as his right-hand man would go, but, if Tsuna wasn't he had about fifteen other far more interesting things to do.

"I don't think there's anything planned," Tsuna finally said.

"He's going to close the restaurant down for it," Yamamoto smiled.

"Let me double check with Mom and Reborn and make sure, but I'm sure it'll be fine," Tsuna smiled.

"What about you?" Yamamoto asked, looking expectantly at Gokudera.

"If Judaime is going, of course I'm going," Gokudera scowled.

"Awesome," Yamamoto said. "Gotta make sure I get all the invites out."

"Just tell Reborn, he knows where everyone is every moment of the day," Tsuna mumbled.

A small foot slammed into Tsuna's head and the brunette screeched in surprise. "Reborn!"

The fedora-bedecked toddler smirked at Tsuna as he settled on Yamamoto's shoulder. "I think having the Family all together in one place for a celebration is a great idea, I'll make sure the invitations get out," the home tutor said.

Tsuna looked over at his teacher. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" he said.

Reborn gave him his best innocent look. "I wouldn't do anything that won't bring the Family closer together…"

"Oh God…" Tsuna groaned. "Just don't mess up the restaurant, please?"

"We haven't had a Family meeting since I got back from Italy, it's overdue," Reborn said. "There are things we have to discuss as a Family."

"What kind of things?" Tsuna asked warily.

"You'll see on Saturday," Reborn chirped and vanished back into his hiding place.

Tsuna clutched his stomach and whimpered inwardly. "I have a bad feeling about this…"

Gokudera placed a hand on Tsuna's shoulder and Yamamoto's laugh echoed as the baseball idiot blatantly ignored Gokudera's glare. "Judaime, I'm sure it'll be fine," he said.

"This is _Reborn_ we're talking about," Tsuna scowled. "Tell me that again, looking into my eyes."

Gokudera met the future mafia boss's brown eyes and opened his mouth to say it again, but couldn't and sighed. "I can't," he said.

"Exactly," Tsuna said.

The shrill ring of Tsuna's cell phone startled all of them, including the Tenth who wasn't used to having the device on him.

"Hello," he said after fumbling with the buttons until he managed to pick it up just before it went to voice mail.

"Tsuna-kun, Haru is happy to report that all of the children have been escorted safely home by your Haru."

Tsuna nearly flinched at Haru's singsong voice, but relaxed at the news. "That's good to hear. Lambo didn't cause any trouble did he?"

"The entire day was incident free," Haru assured him. "Or at least there wasn't any noticeable damage to the school when Haru picked them up."

"I suppose at least that is encouraging," Tsuna grumbled.

"Lambo-chan was perfectly behaved," Haru stated, there was a loud noise in the background, punctuated by a gasp from Haru. "Hahi…gotta go something crashed in the kitchen…"

Haru hung up abruptly and Tsuna stared at the face of the phone until the image on front faded out. "Who was that?" Gokudera frowned.

"Haru," Tsuna replied, "she picked the kids up at school today. I'm still not entirely sure that it's a good idea to send them to school like this though. There's too many things…"

"It'll be fine. Reborn recommended it," Yamamoto said firmly.

"I'm still worried, especially about Fuuta…" Tsuna said as they made their way towards his house.

"My sister is playing his bodyguard according to Reborn-san's wishes," Gokudera said. "If anyone tries to take them, they'll regret it."

"That's good," Tsuna said.

"Maa, maa…you worry too much Tsuna," Yamamoto said, placing a hand on his boss's shoulder. "Everything will be fine. We'll make sure of it."

Gokudera glared at Yamamoto for taking the words out of his mouth and settled for grabbing a cigarette and lighting it before shoving his hands into his pockets. He glanced over his shoulder at Tsuna. "Are you all right, Judaime?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Tsuna said, "but with Enma going back to Simon and everything else, things feel…weird."

"It's called normal," Reborn's voice came and the future mafia boss jumped.

"Hieee…Reborn…don't do that!" Tsuna exclaimed, his voice cracking.

He unwrapped himself from behind Gokudera's jacket and glared at the potted plant that'd turned into the home tutor.

"You keep talking about how you wanted everything to go back to normal, Tsuna, isn't this what you wanted?" Reborn asked.

"Well…yes, but…" Tsuna shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't like the feeling that something is about to go horribly wrong."

"Hmmm?" Reborn murmured.

"Ah…nothing," Tsuna said, forcing the premonition to the back of his mind.

On Saturday afternoon, Gokudera made his way to Judaime's house and met up with Haru at the corner. "What are you doing here, stupid woman?" he growled.

"You're not the only one who wants extra time with Tsuna-san," Haru sniffed and stuck her tongue out at him.

"You're a third year now, why the hell are you acting like a stupid first year?" Gokudera growled.

"Well, if you didn't want to meet up with Haru, maybe you should've just waited for the party at Take Sushi and met Tsuna-san there," Haru retorted.

"I'm his second, of course I have to be with him when he goes some place, you never know what's going to happen," he stated.

"And Haru is perfectly capable of defending Tsuna-san if need be," Haru said sweetly.

"Bull shit."

"Bakadera, watch your language, there could be children present," Haru scolded.

Gokudera whirled on her and a piece of dynamite dropped into his hand as he glared at her. A piece of thin metal appeared in Haru's hand and she returned his glare just as ferociously as the ring on her finger sparked, licking teasingly on the edges of the metal. "I dare you," she said darkly.

Gokudera nearly dropped the stick of dynamite at her words and the complete lack of the usual empty-headed "Haru…desu" completely throwing him off for an instant. "I've got fifty times more experience than you'll ever hope to have, stupid woman," he growled.

"Maa, maa…Gokudera, H-haru?"

Haru jumped as Yamamoto's voice came and whirled to face the Rain Guardian with a muffled "Hahi!"

Yamamoto looked completely floored for just a moment and then met Haru's eyes directly for a long moment. "When did you…" he began.

"While you were busy with the Simon Famiglia and the Representative Battle of the Rainbow," Haru replied, Reborn had decided to brief her at least a little bit on those two events—though she was sure he wasn't telling her everything, but Reborn never told more than he had to. "After we returned from the future, I couldn't just pretend that everything was fine and let that future come to pass if I could help stop it."

Yamamoto's face fell completely still for just a moment and Haru felt a familiar chill chase down her spine, remembering that particular look on Yamamoto's face while they were in the future. He dispelled it by laughing, "So you decided to play in the Mafia game too?" he said with forced cheerfulness.

Gokudera spat on the ground, glaring at the taller boy as he spoke, "Don't do that, baseball idiot."

"He's right, Yamamoto," Haru said quietly. "We all know this left the realms of game territory a long time ago."

Yamamoto rested his baseball bat on his shoulder and regarded his friends calmly. "Maybe so, but Tsuna doesn't need to see such serious faces. He already has enough to worry about, don't you think?"

Haru's breath caught and she exchanged guilty glances with Gokudera, both simultaneously putting their weapon away. "You're right, Yamamoto," Haru said. "Haru's sorry."

"Don't be sorry, Haru," Yamamoto smiled. "Let's just not add to Tsuna's worries, _ne_?"

She nodded and the three made their way to Tsuna's house, Gokudera trudging behind and glaring at Yamamoto's back and banishing the expression as they arrived and were greeted by being nearly tripped up by I-Pin chasing Lambo complaining that that was _her_ strawberry.

Haru giggled and swooped down and caught the cowsuit clad boy and quickly relieved him of said strawberry while he struggled. "Here you go, I-Pin-chan," she smiled.

"That was Lambo-san's strawberry! Lambo-san stole it fair and square!"

"Shut it, stupid cow, you're giving me a headache," Gokudera growled and then his face lit in a smile as a familiar form appeared in the doorway.

"I-Pin, Lambo don't run out there so carelessly!"

"Judaime!"

Tsuna glanced up and smiled at the sight of his friends in the gateway. "You came too, Yamamoto?" he asked.

"It sounded more fun than doing the homework for the weekend," Yamamoto grinned.

They made their way up the sidewalk, laughing and followed Tsuna back inside.

"Ciao-su."

Reborn was sitting on top of several cushions with Bianchi in the chair next to him offering him coffee made with all of her love.

They'd no sooner settled than the doorbell echoed and Lambo raced I-Pin for the door and flung it open to greet Ryohei and Kyoko. They all gathered in the Sawada's dining room and Tsuna sat back and watched them for a long time with an almost sad smile on his face. How much longer were they going to be able to be together like this?

As the time for the party drew closer, they evacuated the Sawada residence and headed for Yamamoto's family sushi shop and entered to find Chrome waiting inside.

"I'm sorry I didn't make it to your house, Boss, something came up," she said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it, Chrome-san," Tsuna smiled. "I was surprised you decided to stay at Namimori again this year."

"I think staying in Namimori is best for me right now," she said. "It keeps Boss close to me so I can protect everyone."

"Ah, everyone is here, shall we get this party started then?"

"Yes!"

"So have you thought about what you're doing for high school yet, Haru-chan?" Kyoko asked, shifting a sleeping I-Pin to a more comfortable position in her arms.

"Haru has a couple options figured out," Haru replied. "You're testing for Namimori High, aren't you, Kyoko-chan?"

"Ah…actually…" Kyoko shifted uncomfortably, keeping her eyes away from Tsuna for the moment. "I was actually thinking of going to Takanamori…"

"Hahi?" Haru's eyes snapped to her friend's. "Why there?"

"I've been doing some research into it and they have a highly rated math and science track for people looking to go into a medical career," Kyoko said.

"A medical career?" Tsuna's voice cracked. "I thought you were going to be a detective or a ballet dancer…"

Kyoko affectionately stroked I-Pin's hair as the young hitman dozed against her. "I was thinking about it after we got back from that place in the future and thought that knowing about medicine would be more useful, you know? That way if anyone gets sick—or hurt—I can help them. Don't you think that's a good idea, Tsuna-kun?"

"I, uh…yeah…" Tsuna managed, his brown eyes dropping to the table.

"Say it like you mean it, Tsuna," Reborn commanded, knocking Tsuna to the floor and standing on his chest. "Having a doctor in the ranks of the Family is a good idea."

"Reborn!"

Reborn turned to look at the girls. "I think that's a good idea, Kyoko," he announced firmly. "Though maybe you and Bianchi should take the kids home now, it's getting late."

Kyoko glanced down at I-Pin and then over at Lambo and laughed. "Probably a good idea," she said as she rose slowly then glanced at her brunette friend. "Haru?"

"Haru needs to stay," Reborn stated.

Haru blinked at the announcement and turned the sleeping Lightning Guardian over to Bianchi. "I'll call you tomorrow, Kyoko," she promised. "I'm planning on going to Takanamori too. We can study together."

"That sounds good," Kyoko beamed.

A little while later, the two left with I-Pin, Lambo, and Fuuta in tow and Reborn jumped onto the table surveying the Vongola Judaime and his Guardians as well as the newest hitman in the family. "I have an announcement to make," Reborn said.

"What new fight are you getting me into this time?" Tsuna asked, bitterness tracing through his voice, drawing surprised looks from his Guardians and Haru.

"No fight this time Tsuna, at least at this point," Reborn said and settled cross-legged on the table. "While I was in Italy, I got more information than just you becoming the Neo Vongola Primo. The Kudaime is planning to pay you a formal visit, but before he arrives he wants you to figure out who was employing Dani Shirokaia."

"What?" Tsuna's voice cracked.

"Shirokaia was a freelance hitman, which means someone was paying her to try and take out the Vongola Famiglia here in Japan. He wants to know who," Reborn stated, "and he wants you to find out."

"But…" Tsuna began then shook his head, this was something he'd have to learn to expect, but his eyes turned to the brunette who was sitting quietly at the table with them. "Why does Haru have to be part of this?"

"Haru is part of your Family, Tsuna, you've acknowledged this," Reborn said, "and she's going to have our strongest lead on who is behind this."

"Hahi?" Haru gaped and then her eyes widened. "Wait…the Trabuchet…"

"What?" Gokudera turned a scowl on the brunette.

"It's a Family that Dani warned me about that was trying to cause trouble while you guys were dealing with the Representative Battle of the Rainbow," Haru said. "I don't know if they're behind Dani's actions, it sounded more like a vendetta on her part, but if there was someone behind it, they might provide a lead."

"Exactly," Reborn said approvingly.

"Fine, we'll get started on this tomorrow," Tsuna said. "It's late, I'm tired, and I want to make sure everyone got home all right."

Before anyone else could speak up, Tsuna was up and out the door.

Yamamoto looked after Tsuna sharply and made to rise and follow, but Gokudera was already on his feet and out the door behind Tsuna.

Reborn watched the door the young mafia boss had exited through, his expression shadowed by the brim of his fedora. He turned his gaze to the remaining Guardians and Haru. "There are a lot of things that we have to do before the Kudaime makes his formal visit," Reborn said, "and it's going to be up to the entire Famiglia to make sure things go smoothly. Tsuyoshi has graciously allowed me to set up a meeting here on Monday during their prep time; we will continue our discussions there. Between now and then, Haru, I need you to figure out what you have on this Trabuchet Family."

"Of course," Haru said, rising. "I'll see what I can come up with tomorrow. Tsuna-san's safety is Haru's number one priority."

Reborn nodded and Yamamoto and Ryohei left, leaving just the two girls behind. "Chrome, I want you to continue to train with Haru and work with her as time permits, her training is far from finished," Reborn instructed the Mist Guardian. "Haru, don't do anything stupid."

"Of course Haru won't," Haru huffed.

"As you wish, Reborn-san," Chrome said softly. "Shall we go, Haru-san?"

Haru nodded and gathered her things up and they exited as well.

Reborn turned to Tsuyoshi Yamamoto as the restaurant owner entered the room. "They're already gone?" he asked.

Reborn nodded. "Everyone got tired and they have homework. Thank you for hosting us again."

"It was my pleasure," the Rain Guardian's Father smiled. "Things are getting exciting again?"

A smirk crossed Reborn's face. "You could definitely say that."

"Judaime?"

Tsuna trudged down the street, ignoring his friend's call, but Gokudera caught up quickly enough. "Judaime? What's wrong?" he asked.

"What's right?" Tsuna gave a bitter laugh. "I have little enough hope to get into Namimori High, but Takanamori? I don't even have a prayer," he said. "No matter how hard I study, I can never reach that level. And now, with the Ninth's visit? I'm not even going to have a chance. It's impossible."

Gokudera mulled over Tsuna's statements for a moment before addressing the one that seemed central to Tsuna's worries. "If you want, I can work with you like we did to pass the finals to get into third year, it's not impossible," Gokudera said.

Tsuna gave Gokudera a wry smile. "Have you seen the practice exam for Takanamori High, Gokudera-kun?"

"Ah, no…but I'm sure it's not that bad," Gokudera said.

"Tomorrow, ask the guidance office for a copy of the practice test for Takanamori," Tsuna said, "and then see if you can tell me that again."

"Judaime…"

Tsuna slumped. "I'm just really no good at a lot of things."

Gokudera reached out and caught Tsuna's shoulder, forcing him to turn around and look at him. "I'm your right hand man and as your right hand man it is my duty to tell you to stop whining," Gokudera near growled.

Tsuna's eyes went wide—it was the first time Gokudera had spoken like that to him since their initial confrontations what felt like ages ago.

"You've come a long way from where you were before, Judaime, and so have the rest of us," Gokudera continued. "Don't say something is impossible—your defeat of Xanxus was impossible. Defeating Byakuran ten years in the future was impossible. Your victory in the Representative Battle of the Rainbow was so impossible that Reborn-san tried to keep you out of it. Don't _ever_ say something like that again."

"G-Gokudera…"

"You are Vongola X, the Judaime, Neo Vongola Primo—whatever the hell the title is going to be," Gokudera said firmly. "Do what you have to do, Judaime."

"We're all going to support you," Yamamoto added as he and Ryohei caught up to them.

"Join the boxing club, it will help you to the extreme," Ryohei said.

"Nii-san, you're not even at Namimori Middle anymore," Tsuna scowled at the white-haired boxer.

Ryohei laughed loudly, scrubbing his hand through his hair. "I forgot that to the extreme. Join the boxing club there, then join me at Namimori High and we'll take on the world!"

"Nii-san…" Tsuna said in a pained voice.

"More seriously, don't look down on yourself like that," Ryohei said. "We've been through a lot and I'm sure there will be a lot more someday."

Tsuna sighed, but couldn't help but smile as they tried to offer him some form of comfort in their own ways.

Gokudera glared at the Rain and Sun Guardian, but then reluctantly admitted they'd helped clear Tsuna's expression more than he had managed on his own.

"Tomorrow I'll get that practice test and we'll see what we can do, Judaime," Gokudera said firmly. "If we put our minds to it, I'm sure it'll be fine. You'll pass that test and we'll have a proper welcome set up for the Kudaime's visit."


	3. Ch 2: Gathering Storm

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Wow, it's been a crazy couple weeks. I belatedly realized that after I wrote the last chapter and posted it, I completely made my outline for the story obsolete and had to go back and do a lot of reworking. I think overall it's going to turn out better for it, but it's such a pain when it happens.

Anyway, I present to you chapter two. Quick reference: Dani Shirokaia was Haru's tutor in** Haru's Resolve** after Reborn turned Haru down when she asked him to teach her. Dani was working for someone to eliminate the Vongola 10th Gen. While Haru was training to take Dani on, Dani was attacking the others off-screen (since **Haru's Resolve** was Haru-centric and I didn't really focus on anything outside of Haru herself).

As a head's up, the next chapter might be a week later than usual because I will be going on vacation from March 16-March 23 (and technically I should post the next chapter on March 20th sticking with my every other week schedule) and I'm not sure if I'm going to have access to the internet to post the chapter or if I will have it ready yet.

Anyway, putting the usual disclaimer in here Katekyo Hitman Reborn! is not mine, it's Amano-sensei's and I'm just playing in the world because I wanted the story to go beyond where the manga left off.

After the delay in the next update, I should be back to my every other week schedule for updates.

Thank you very much for reading ^_^

xoxo ~ Yuki

* * *

**Target 02-02: Gathering Storm**

They gathered at Take Sushi after school while Yamamoto's father was out picking up some needed items for the evening that hadn't been delivered. Haru sat at the table with Yamamoto and Gokudera, waiting for Tsuna and the former Arcobaleno to arrive. Ryohei was in another town for a boxing tournament. Dark shadows lay beneath Haru's eyes as she restlessly sifted through the papers in her hand, skimming them one last time to see if she could dredge anything else out of her memories.

"What's this Trabuchet Family trying to accomplish?" Gokudera asked Haru, finally breaking the long silence.

"According to Dani, they try and move in to other Family's territories if they look to be vulnerable," Haru replied. "They view Tsuna-san's reluctance to step into his position as the Vongola Decimo as one of those openings."

She shuffled through the papers and set a couple out for the other two to look at. "That's a loose look at their organization, Dani had me do some research into the organization of Mafia families, including the Vongola, the Hanatachi, and what little I could glean about the Trabuchet. I didn't get very far into the research as we skipped topics a few days later. Their primary base isn't here, but they've built a stronger presence here than most other rival families. Probably in order to figure anything else out we're going to have to find their base of operations here."

"And how do you propose to do that?" Gokudera scowled.

"I'm still working on it," Haru said tiredly. "I spent all of yesterday and most of this morning working on getting what information I did manage to gather together. I would have liked to linger on this part a little longer, but Dani was constantly bouncing me between things."

The papers were snatched up as Reborn appeared and settled on the table followed a few moments later by the ringing of the bell and Tsuna entering. "Sorry, had to go to the elementary school and get Lambo and take him home. He nearly blew up the boys' bathroom."

"Do you have anything else besides this, Haru?" the toddler asked.

Haru shook her head. "That's all I had a chance to come up with while working under Dani," she said. "I'd probably narrow the location of their base to somewhere in the shopping district. The attacks against Kyoko and the others radiated out from there."

"Maybe in the underground shopping area they were building that the Millefiore were located in?" Gokudera suggested.

"I don't think so," Haru said. "I think most of the spymasters for the other Families around here would have noted that. I have some ideas to get started on to find further clues, but…"

"Just tell us those ideas and we'll go see what we can find," Tsuna said.

Haru folded her arms and regarded Tsuna silently for a long moment. "You will not have access to some of the things that I do, Tsuna-san," she said, her voice was gentle; she knew why he was talking like that. "Haru is part of your Family now, for better or worse."

"How can you protect anyone if you're busy chasing clues?" Tsuna questioned.

"Haru is the only who has any idea of our enemy at this point," Reborn said. "For now, Haru, you will work with Gokudera since he's been around the longest."

"What?" Gokudera growled. "Why do I need that stupid girl weighing me down?"

Haru glared at the silver-haired demolitionist.

"If you want to be a proper right hand man for Tsuna, you have to learn to work with everyone, Gokudera," Reborn stated. "You learned that in the future and it still holds now."

"But—" he began.

"Are you afraid Haru might outshine you?" Haru asked, a smile quirking her lips.

"Hell, no, you're only half-trained at best, and this is dangerous," Gokudera stated flatly. "We don't need someone going at it half-assed because they want to impress people. This isn't some dance through flowers in the park where you smack down a few people and call it good then claim a kiss from the victor at the end. People can get hurt and die in this."

Haru flinched a bit at that. "Is that how you think Haru is looking at this?"

"You don't know what the fuck you're looking at yet," Gokudera snarled.

"Maa, maa…" Yamamoto said, his eyes going between the two.

Tsuna's eyes went between the two and he sighed heavily, slumping in his seat—he seriously doubted Reborn's wisdom about bringing Haru into the group. He'd become used to Yamamoto and Gokudera being nearby and they all worked well together, but adding Haru to the mix…

"Why don't you at least try it before you say no?" Tsuna suggested, straightening up and looking at the two-if nothing else, Gokudera should be able to protect Haru.

"She's just going to get in the way!"

"You don't know that, Gokudera," Haru stated. "You've never worked with me before."

"If you can't work with anyone in the Family, you have no right to call yourself Tsuna's right hand man, Gokudera," the toddler reiterated and turned to look at Haru. "And, Haru, consider this your initiation. If you can't do this then…"

He trailed off and Haru stiffened. "Haru won't let you down," she stated quietly.

"Che…no one will be a better right hand man for Judaime than me," Gokudera growled. "If I have to do this, let's go, stupid woman."

"Haru is not stupid," Haru snapped back and then took a deep breath. "But because I will become a Mafioso wife, Haru will have to get along with everyone close to Tsuna-san, including idiot demolitionists."

Gokudera nearly snarled something, but Haru disarmed him with a sweet smile. "Shall we go?"

Gokudera glared at her and collected his school jacket and shrugged it on. "Let's go."

"Haru's heading out now, excuse me Tsuna-san, Yamamoto," Haru said.

Haru made her way out of the restaurant, giving Tsuyoshi Yamamoto a smile as she passed him and thanked him for letting them use his restaurant to meet in. "Where the hell do you think you're going, stupid woman?" Gokudera's voice rang down the street and Haru stopped.

She turned and gave him an innocent smile. "Oh, you were coming?" she asked.

Gokudera stalked up to her and glared down at her. "Let's get one thing straight, stupid woman, _I _am in charge of this and you do what _I _say or there's going to be problems."

Haru's brown gaze clashed with Gokudera's gray-green and she dropped her eyes, silently backing down. She let Gokudera take the lead, keeping an eye on the surroundings as she started sorting through the various incidents that had been mounting up over the past few weeks. There had to be a place that could possibly be the center of it…

"Stop daydreaming, stupid girl," Gokudera scowled, yanking her back as she accidentally stepped foot into the intersection as the cars zoomed past.

"Hahi!"

"Are you sure they're going to be all right, Reborn?" Tsuna asked worriedly.

He and Yamamoto were going to his house to check in with Tsuna's father to see if the head CEDEF had any leads that would be of use. They'd chatted a little bit and had some food at Tsuyoshi's insistence before leaving.

"If Haru kills Gokudera, you already have another promising right hand man. Don't worry about it too much," Reborn said from his perch on Yamamoto's shoulder.

"Reborn!"

Yamamoto chuckled at the former Arcobaleno's comment. "They'll be fine—probably," Yamamoto said.

"I hope so," Tsuna mumbled.

"Tsuna-kun!"

Tsuna jumped and turned to see Kyoko coming towards them with the kids and Bianchi in tow. "Kyoko-chan!" he greeted her delightedly.

"Haru-chan asked me to bring the kids home from school today and your mom asked me to get some stuff for dinner when I got there, so we all went shopping," Kyoko said, displaying the bag. "Bianchi-san happened to be in the area and came with us."

Even though Kyoko knew about the Mafia, she still didn't seem to quite understand the seriousness of it and Tsuna was all right with that. "Lambo-san wants grapes!" the boy shouted, making a mad scramble out of Kyoko's arms and barreling towards the house.

"Lambo-chan, be careful!" Kyoko shouted as Lambo darted across the road as a car screeched around the corner.

An orange flame lit on Tsuna's brow and he sprang at Lambo, managing to grab the irrepressible five-year-old and landing on the other side safely as the car passed. "What do you think you're doing, Lambo?" Tsuna demanded, the dying will flame fading out.

Lambo looked up at him with wide green eyes. "Hold…it…in…"

Then he burst out crying and Tsuna sighed and the others caught up to him.

Kyoko immediately picked up the sobbing boy and cuddled him in close. "Are you all right, Lambo-chan, you're not hurt anywhere, are you?"

The boy said nothing and Kyoko turned her eyes to Tsuna. "You saved him, Tsuna-kun," she said with soft awe.

Tsuna flushed and looked up and met Reborn and Yamamoto's surprised looks. "What?" he asked.

"That was awesome," Yamamoto said. "I'm glad the kid was all right."

He'd also half-leapt into the road to save the boy, but Tsuna had beat him to it.

They arrived in the kitchen to find Nana fuming. "Mom? What's wrong?" Tsuna asked.

"Your father went off again without saying good-bye, why I ought to…" Nana muttered darkly as she stalked into the kitchen and began to slam pans around as she prepped to make dinner.

"No way, he's gone again?" Tsuna asked.

They collected the snacks that Nana had laid out for them and went upstairs and settled around the table in Tsuna's room. "Well, there goes that idea," Tsuna sighed.

Meanwhile, Haru and Gokudera were revisiting the sites of the various incidents that kept cropping up in the rumor mill and were coming up with nothing. Gokudera slumped against the side of one of the buildings and lit a cigarette.

Haru coughed as the smoke blew into her face and scowled up at him. "Are you trying to kill me too?" she snapped.

"What?" Gokudera said blankly.

"Secondhand smoke causes cancer," Haru sniffed. "If you must smoke go over there. I'm trying to think."

"Is that right?" Gokudera growled, shoving away from the wall and towering over her.

Haru was not intimidated and met him glare for glare. "Put it out or go over there, Bakadera."

He snarled something else, but moved away as requested and Haru frowned as she ran back through her memory. While Gokudera was smoking, she went to one of the booths that sold maps of the area and bought a few and some pens from the stationary store.

"What are you doing?" Gokudera asked, stubbing the cigarette out and approaching after disposing of the butt.

"Is there some place we can go to spread these maps out?" Haru asked.

"Why?" Gokudera questioned.

"Because maybe if we have a visual representation of where everything is we might be able to narrow the search down a bit," Haru said.

Gokudera stopped for a moment and contemplated her suggestion. "My place is a couple blocks from here. Do you object to going there?"

Haru hesitated and Gokudera snorted. "You needn't worry about me doing anything," he said. "You're not my type."

Haru's eyes narrowed. "It wouldn't matter anyway; I'm in love with Tsuna-san."

Gokudera barked a laugh. "Then shall we?"

They made their way to Gokudera's small apartment and shoved the furniture around to make room on the floor for the maps and Haru pulled out a red marker and made X's where the attacks had happened while she'd been preparing to confront Dani and a blue marker to mark the rumored incidents, no one had moved directly against the Vongola Guardians since Dani was taken by the Vindice.

"They're being too quiet," Gokudera stated.

Haru glanced up at Gokudera. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"If they're trying to move in on Vongola territory, they're making just enough noise to catch our attention, but that isn't their main attack," Gokudera said, hunkering down beside her and pointing to a few spots. "Your house is there. Kyoko's is there. Judaime's is here. There's nothing reported around there, but if they're trying to maneuver Judaime into a fight they would know they have to hit closer to home."

Haru was silent and then settled on the ground, drawing her knees to her chest as she surveyed the map.

"When they come out they're going to come out big," Gokudera said. "Are you really sure you want to get tangled up in this? It's going to get messy very fast. Wouldn't it be easier just to let us handle it?"

"Easier for who?" Haru questioned. "Even if I wanted to step out now, it wouldn't do much good. Because we're associated with Tsuna, we're going to be targets. I won't be left helpless waiting for someone to rescue me. Even if the idea of being rescued is romantic—the inside of a coffin is not."

"You're serious about this aren't you?" Gokudera said, turning to look at her in surprise.

"I've never been more serious in my life," Haru said quietly.

"Damn…" Gokudera said and pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

He moved away from Haru so the smoke wouldn't get in her face.

"My current knowledge of this world is only enough to go just below the surface—there's still a lot I need to know," Haru said. "I want to protect everyone and I don't want to see anything like what we saw in the future against Byakuran. I don't know what kind of life my future self had before we got there, but I'm betting it wasn't very happy with Tsuna-san and everyone getting hurt or vanishing."

Thunder rumbled outside and the patter of rain hitting the roof echoed.

The next words were the one of the hardest things Haru ever had to say, but she took a deep breath and forced them out.

"Chrome has been working with me on my physical fighting skills, but she doesn't know a lot about the Mafia world either, mostly because Mukuro would rather destroy it," Haru said. "Reborn assigned us to work together because you know more than me and you've been a hitman longer than any other of Tsuna's Guardians. Will you help me learn more as well? I know just enough to get myself into trouble right now, but I'm not sure I'd be able to get out of it on my own."

The cigarette nearly fell from Gokudera's mouth, but he recovered quickly. "You want _me_ to teach _you_?" he demanded.

Haru stiffened and she was about to make a scathing retort, but she bit her tongue hard. "Yes…please."


	4. Ch 3: Lightning Fast Attack

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Okay, I managed to finish this up faster than I anticipated, so instead of waiting until I get back from vacation I will put it out before I leave on vacation.

The chapter feels a little shaky to me, but I hope you all like it. I may have tried to do a little too much in it with everything happening simultaneously. I tried to keep the transitions smooth to leave as little confusion as I could.

KHR doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Akira Amano-I just play here a lot lately. The story line belongs to me.

Thank you as always for reading and please look forward to my next update (3/27)-provided my vacation doesn't throw me completely off-schedule.

Please review if you get a chance ^_^

PS If you're curious about when Gokudera helped Tsuna with his finals to get into third year, my story "Name" covers that section (yes, I did kinda purposely tailor it to my current storyline plots ^^; )

* * *

**Target 03-02: Lightning Fast Attack**

"We'll kill two birds with one stone," Gokudera said, putting two packets down in front of Tsuna as they settled in one of the study rooms of the library.

"Huh?" Tsuna asked, brown eyes going to the papers in front of him.

Gokudera tapped the Takanamori practice test with one finger—he'd acquired the copy from the counselor as Tsuna requested and already looked it over as well as the test for Namimori High. "The two tests directly correlate to one another, if we study for the Takanamori entrance exam, we'll also be studying most of the same material for Namimori," Gokudera said. "So by studying for one, you're covering the material for both."

Tsuna picked up the Takanamori test as if it were a live snake and skimmed the first page. "I don't know _any_ of this Gokudera," he stated miserably.

"Yes, you do," Gokudera said, plopping down in the seat next to his Boss. "We went over this when we were working on getting you through the exams to make to third year. We'll break it into chunks so that you can hopefully retain more of it. I'm not sure if the cram schools will help any."

"I wouldn't have time for a cram school anyway," Tsuna replied.

"Point," Gokudera said. "So let's take it a little at a time."

The longer he stayed close to Judaime, the more Gokudera learned about how to handle at least some aspects of his Boss.

An explosion rattled the window panes some time later, jarring Tsuna out of his contemplation of the gibberish on the paper that Gokudera told him was algebra. His brown eyes shot to the roof over Hibari's usual quarters and a plume of smoke billowed out of a broken window. Gokudera's eyes followed his and they both snapped to their feet, knocking their chairs down in the process. "What the hell was that?" the demolitionist growled as he and Tsuna made their way to the library exit.

"No running in the library!"

They ignored the librarian's shout and skidded out the door and down the hall, dodging the students who were pouring out of their club activities in response to the explosion. By the time they were out the front doors of the school, Tsuna had shifted into Dying Will Mode and Gokudera had his Vongola Gear armed.

Before they could make it to Hibari's rooms they wound up thrown onto the ground as it shattered beneath their feet.

"Found you."

Four men surrounded them and Tsuna wound up back-to-back with Gokudera as the enemy closed in.

"Senpai!"

Ryohei Sasagawa turned to see Yamamoto running towards him and excused himself from his boxing teammates and went to go meet the Vongola Rain Guardian. "I didn't expect you here; did you come to join the boxing club?" Ryohei asked.

Yamamoto chuckled and shook his head; he knew Ryohei only asked that out of habit. "We promised to meet up and discuss what happened on Monday while you were at your boxing match," Yamamoto reminded him.

"Oh yeah," Ryohei said and laughed loudly. "I forgot about that to the extreme."

The two moved away from the group towards the other side of Namimori High and both sprang back as flames roared towards them. "What the…" Yamamoto's eyes narrowed and he activated his Vongola Necklace as Ryohei followed suit with his bangle.

Several men appeared behind the flames, smirking at the two.

They exited the cake shop, giggling and trying to keep Lambo contained as they turned towards the Sawada residence. Chrome hadn't eaten much of the sweets with Kyoko and Haru, but she seemed to be enjoying spending time with the other girls and they'd discussed their studies for the Takanamori High exam they'd decided to take together.

As they neared the end of the shopping district, Haru caught Chrome's eyes and gestured minutely behind them at two people who'd been following them almost since they exited the shop. The dark-haired girl nodded and her fingers dipped into her bag and pulled her trident out. I-Pin saw the movement and reached up and grasped Kyoko's hand suddenly, catching the young woman's attention. "What's wrong, I-Pin?" Kyoko asked, looking down at her.

I-Pin pointed almost shyly to a clothing store. "Can we go in there, please?" she asked, her Japanese was improving by leaps and bounds now that she was immersed in a school where it was the primary spoken language.

"Lambo-san doesn't want to go into the girlie store!" the cow boy protested.

"Girlie stores like that are ranked number one out of five hundred to have candy on the floor," Fuuta said blandly, he'd caught the look between Chrome and Haru.

Lambo's eyes lit up. "Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, really," Fuuta replied.

"Let's go~o!" Lambo said and charged towards the store with the others trailing in his wake, leaving Haru and Chrome behind.

"Ready?" Chrome asked Haru.

Haru nodded and Chrome activated her trident and the ring she'd acquired somewhere flared. "Your ring…" Haru trailed off hesitantly.

"Mukuro-sama has the Vongola Ring now," Chrome said, "but this one serves my purposes so I can do what I need to."

Haru nodded and she drew out her hairpins and uncapped them, she kept the pins dipped in a knock out drug for everyday use because that seemed to be the most sensible idea over some of the other tinctures she had managed to acquire.

The butt of Chrome's trident hit the ground and seemed to sink in and mist began to rise as the men following them came into sight.

"Let's get away from the school," Tsuna said to Gokudera. "People could get hurt."

Gokudera nodded and pulled out some flashbombs. "Cover your eyes, Judaime."

He flung them out, the glasses in the Cambio Forma blocking out the harmful effect that temporarily blinded their opponents. As soon as the bombs hit, Tsuna took off and Gokudera followed, dodging through the myriad of buildings on campus.

They rendezvoused at the very edge of campus and Tsuna landed next to Gokudera, his orange gaze going the direction they came from. "We need to take them out without hurting anyone," Tsuna said.

Gokudera nodded and armed the Bone Loops and as their attackers came into view they were fully charged and imprisoned them. After the men were secured, Tsuna approached, but almost in unison all four seemed to collapse in their prisons. "What…"

"Omerta," Reborn said, seeming to appear from nowhere as usual. "We're not going to get any information from these guys. Gokudera let the Bone Loops down."

Gokudera did as requested and Reborn approached the bodies and kicked one, watching it flop over. "Search them, it's the only way we're going to get clues."

Tsuna shuddered back from the idea, but Gokudera moved forward. "You shouldn't have to dirty your hands with this, Judaime, I'll look," he said

The Dying Will Flame faded out and Tsuna looked at the corpses, his face pale. "What kind of people are these guys?" he asked slowly.

"Dangerous," Reborn said quietly. "Send a message to your Famiglia. We need to have a meeting."

Tsuna took a moment to figure out what Reborn meant and then pulled out his cell phone and turned it on, waiting for it to boot up before firing off an email to Yamamoto, Ryohei, and Chrome.

Yamamoto's phone buzzed just as the last guy hit the ground and he took a moment to catch his breath before he picked it up. "It's a message from Tsuna. He says to meet him at his house tonight at seven."

"That was extremely dangerous," Ryohei scowled, tossing another knife into the small pile that had gathered as they disarmed them. Surprisingly, no one had come in the response to the commotion yet.

"Who are these guys?" Yamamoto murmured, turning one over.

A cellphone dropped from the attacker's pocket and Yamamoto picked it up and flipped it open. "It just has a single text saying 'Attack the Sun and Rain now'," Yamamoto said, glancing over at Ryohei.

Ryohei pulled out his phone and flipped it open. "I got the same message from Tsuna."

Yamamoto frowned and turned his attention to their attackers and began collecting a couple items from the pile they'd accrued and the cell phone. "We'll take these with us," Yamamoto said.

He dropped everything into the bat bag he carried with him and took a deep breath. "Let's go," he said.

"Do you think some of them would like to join the boxing club?" Ryohei asked idly as they moved away from the pile of still forms, he rubbed his jaw lightly. "At least one of them had a good right jab."

Yamamoto laughed. "Never a dull day in this Mafia Game," he said.

Tsuna stepped into the rubble strewn room and Kyoya Hibari's gaze flashed to him. "What are you doing here, herbivore?" he demanded.

"I came to see if you were all right," Tsuna said diffidently.

"They interrupted my nap," Hibari growled, "are you planning to keep me from it as well?"

His tonfas came to bear and Tsuna automatically took a step back and raised his hands. "No, Hibari, I was just…"

"Just what?" the Vongola Cloud Guardian bit out. "If you're here longer than two more seconds, I'm going to bite you to death."

"Right…" Tsuna said and began backing towards the door.

"Wait."

Tsuna paused and looked at Hibari. "Who are they? They're disturbing the peace of Namimori. I'll bite them to death."

"We're going to find out," Tsuna assured him.

"Do it faster, herbivore," Hibari growled.

Gokudera and Tsuna beat a hasty retreat and headed back downstairs, narrowly dodging as five bodies came tumbling out of the window of Hibari's meeting room. Tsuna flinched as the bodies hit the ground with meaty thumps and shivered, reminded once again why he never wanted to get on the bad side of the head of the Namimori Disciplinary Committee.

"Let's head to my house," Tsuna said. "I want to make sure Kyoko-chan, Haru, and the kids made it home safely."

Gokudera nodded and the two left campus. His mind was already turning the attack over and trying to figure out who was at the bottom of it.

"Trabuchet Family."

The Guardians glanced up sharply as Haru spoke and the brunette met their eyes levelly. The Vongola Tenth Generation had retreated to Tsuna's room to discuss the happenings of the afternoon while Nana made dinner.

"The guys who attacked Chrome and me were the same ones who attacked me just before my finals with Dani," Haru said and tossed two rings onto the table. "They were carrying those. They don't seem to conduct the Dying Will Flames like the Vongola rings or even my mom's ring, but they were both wearing them."

"It could just be we don't use the flames they're tailored for," Chrome added. "They didn't really get a chance to use them because we disabled them before they could cause any injuries."

"You disabled them?" Gokudera repeated. "Oh, with your illusions?"

"No. My illusions provided the cover, Haru's kanzashi knocked them out," Chrome stated.

"It's a trick I learned with my tutors," Haru said. "The kanzashi are dipped in a poisons or drugs of some form and can be used for multiple purposes. I usually just keep them in knockout drug because it's nonlethal and they won't remember what hit them."

Tsuna's eyes dropped to the rings in the middle of the table, unable to look at Haru for a moment as he wondered just how deeply Haru was already in this whole mess. He wasn't quite ready to reconcile the happy-go-lucky girl he'd met with the person who was changing before his eyes.

"Here's what we pulled from the guys that attacked us," Yamamoto said, interrupting their Boss's grim thoughts.

He tossed the cell phone on the table along with a few of the weapons and Reborn jumped up onto the table and walked over to the small pile, nudging them with his toe. "Did any of the guys you took out live?" he asked.

"They were all KO'd when we left," Ryohei replied, his jaw was starting to purple and Yamamoto had gotten his ribs bandaged by Bianchi not long after the two had arrived.

"Attack the Sun and Rain now."

Reborn had flipped open the cell phone to read the damning text. "What time did they hit Namimori Middle and the Shopping District?"

"About 4:15 or so, I think," Haru said, glancing at Chrome.

"I think that's about right."

"I don't remember actually," Tsuna said.

"Most of the clubs were still going, it could have been at 4:15," Gokudera said.

"We got the text from you around 4:30," Yamamoto said. "We'd just finished taking the guys out, so that's probably about right."

"Four pronged attack," Reborn said. "I'll have to look into this more. Tsuna, do you think we should continue the search for these Trabuchet?"

"If they're going to keep coming after everyone, we don't have a choice," Tsuna said grimly and looked at his Guardians and Haru. "Be careful."

"Of course, Judaime," Gokudera said.

Nana shouted up that dinner was ready and they exchanged grim looks. "Let's see what we can come up with over the next few days," Tsuna said. "We'll have to keep a tighter watch on Kyoko and the kids both at school and on their way home."

"Why didn't you send me a text, too, Tsuna-san?"

Haru's voice was soft and Tsuna jumped and turned to look at the brunette and then immediately looked away; Haru's hand clenched in the material of her skirt as she awaited the answer from the future Vongola Boss.

Dinner was long over and most of the others had already headed home. Tsuna had stepped outside while Gokudera and Lambo got into a heated argument over some miscellaneous thing and he hadn't realized that the brunette had followed him out.

"I'm not used to you being in the middle of this, Haru," Tsuna finally said. "I'm supposed to be protecting you, Kyoko, and the kids, but how can I do that when you're in the middle of the battle?"

"Tsuna-san…" Haru began and then took a deep breath. "I understand. It will take time for you to accept me like this won't it?"

Tsuna started and his eyes met hers. "Yeah, I guess," he said.

"I will show you that I am worthy to be your ally and your wife," Haru said fiercely. "Just you wait, Tsuna-san."

With that she bolted towards the gate, leaving the future Vongola Boss in watching her fade into the distance with an odd pain in his heart.

"She's surprisingly good as a hitman," Reborn said. "I wouldn't have imagined she had it in her when we first met."

"She shouldn't be a hitman," Tsuna said, chopping his hand sharply through the air. "She wasn't supposed to get involved in this at all—at least any more than she already was."

Reborn gave him a sympathetic look and jumped up on the railing and sat down. "They're going to get caught up in this one way or another, Tsuna," the former Arcobaleno said quietly. "Let them choose where they want to help, it will likely be their strongest position."

"But, Haru…" Tsuna began.

"Haru loves you Tsuna," Reborn said bluntly. "She wants to protect you to the very core of her being—just as much or more than your other Guardians."

"But I don't feel the same, at least the love part," Tsuna said. "She's a friend or at least she was a friend. I'm not sure I even know her anymore."

"Haru is still Haru," Reborn said and jumped down. "Go to sleep. You have a lot of studying to do in the morning."

"Hey, Haru."

Haru jerked her head up and dashed away her tears before she turned to look at Gokudera bearing down on her. "What do you want?" she asked, hating the tears in her voice.

"Are you still serious about wanting to learn about the Mafia world?" Gokudera asked.

"Yes."

"All right."

Haru's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

"Only if you are," Gokudera said.


	5. Ch 4: The Point of No Return

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Hi there, I'm sorry about the super lateness of this particular chapter, vacation threw things off worse than I thought it would, but that's a ramble for a blog entry or something. *laughs* Anyway, to make up for the fact that this is a little over a week later than I intended it to be, I fully intend to have another chapter out in the next week.

This month is Camp Nanowrimo (a interval variation of the infamous Nanowrimo of November fame) and while I do have an original project in the works I need to jump start this month, I will be concentrating on **_Oncoming Storm_** for the first half of the month. Why? Because I don't like being late for my own deadlines XD

Despite it being a bit different than I originally intended it to be, I think overall I rather like this chapter.

As always, Katekyo Hitman Reborn! doesn't belong to me, the brilliance of this particular world belongs to Akira Amano and I am just frolicking in it for a while (and, gods, these plots are turning into monsters).

Let me know what you think ^_^

Next chapter update will be sometime between now and April 10th.

Thank you so much for taking time out to read. I appreciate it!

~ Yuki

* * *

**Target 04-02: The Point of No Return**

"Something about those attacks is bothering me," Haru commented as she dipped her chopsticks into the ramen.

"Huh?" Gokudera glanced up at the girl across the table from him.

One finger was tapping on the table and a slight frown marred the brunette's usually cheerful face. Haru met Gokudera's eyes. "The two men they sent after Chrome and me were men I'd already defeated, by myself. They may think that Chrome-chan is weaker because she doesn't have the Vongola Ring in her possession anymore, but it feels…wrong."

Gokudera straightened in his chair and set his chopsticks aside for a moment. "They only sent four guys after Judaime and me, five after Hibari, and I don't know how many against turftop and the baseball idiot."

"That seems a little underpowered given the things that you guys can do," Haru continued. "I haven't ever seen you all at full power really since the Choice game and from what Reborn chose to brief me on; your strength has grown exponentially since then."

"Of course it has, we have to keep training harder," Gokudera snorted.

"Then why didn't they come at you with full strength?" Haru asked. "The only ones plausibly in danger were Sasagawa-san and Yamamoto…maybe."

"Turftop and the baseball idiot were probably the targets," Gokudera said, "and the others were just to keep us from coming to their aide."

"But did they _really_ think they were going to get by Sasagawa-san and Yamamoto?" Haru asked.

Haru reached down for her bag and pulled out a notebook and set it on the table and began to write a list, which she then turned over to Gokudera. Gokudera frowned a bit and then held out his hand for the pen and added a few more things to the list and made some notes next to a few of the other items.

Haru took the list back and read through Gokudera's notes. "Oh, I didn't think of that, but why would it all have been just a set-up? They lost four men…what kind of data could they have gotten from that?"

"I guess we'll have to ask them when we find them," Gokudera said and rose, putting his chopsticks aside.

Haru followed suit and rose herself, grabbing her bag and glancing at Gokudera. "Would you mind going someplace with me?" she asked.

"Where?" Gokudera asked.

Before Haru could answer, her text message tone chimed and she pulled it out for a moment and read it then texted back before turning to Gokudera. "To see Madame Cho," she said.

"Who?" Gokudera asked blankly.

"One of my tutors that wasn't trying to kill the Vongola," Haru said.

"And what's that going to accomplish?" Gokudera scowled.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to," Haru said, "but you told me one of the first things to do as a hitman is to utilize all your resources, correct?"

"Yes," Gokudera replied.

"Madame Cho has the key to one of the resources I may have available," Haru replied, "this way."

Gokudera shoved his hands in his pocket and followed Haru, keeping an eye on the surroundings. Haru didn't seem to be looking anywhere else but straight ahead and he sighed. "Haru."

The girl paused mid-step and turned to face him. "Are you looking anywhere but straight ahead?" he asked, stopping just in front of her.

"Well, you're here…" Haru trailed off.

Gokudera shook his head. "Look everywhere, all the time. Even if I'm not likely to miss anything, you may notice something that I overlook."

"I do that with Chrome or when I'm by myself…" Haru said.

"All. The. Time."

Each word was emphasized and Haru nodded. "I'll do better," she said firmly. "We need to hurry. Madame Cho doesn't have a lot of free time."

She turned and broke into a slight jog and Gokudera lengthened his stride and easily kept up with the brunette. It occurred to him belatedly that he hadn't actually heard Haru refer to herself in third person in a long while and he mulled over the change in his head, his steps slowing just a fraction. The buzz of the crossing light shook him from his thoughts and he swore as he watched Haru dash across one of the crosswalks just as it turned red and cars swarmed between them.

Haru was nearly to the end of the sidewalk when she realized that Gokudera wasn't following and turned to try and figure out where she'd lost him. She pulled out her cell phone to call him and just barely managed to sidestep a pair of arms that seemed to come out of the crowd towards her. She whirled and brought her hands up into a defensive stance as the crowd cleared and a man she didn't recognized leered at her. "Foolish of the little rookie to step out on her own," he said, "makes my life easier."

Haru noted a flash of metal and her breath hissed out as she recognized a gun pointed straight at her. The gun itself was hidden from the passerbys by his unbuttoned coat and the building. "I'm not that easy," she stated.

"No matter how fast you move, girl, you can't outrun a bullet and you can't reach one of those damned hairpins of yours before I can fire the gun," the man smirked. "I'll—"

The statement was abruptly cut off as a hand connected with the side of his neck and Gokudera claimed the gun. "Don't ever run off from your partner again," Gokudera said, his green eyes meeting hers.

Haru wanted to get furious and declare that she could have taken care of herself, but she couldn't bring herself to say the words. "I thought you were right behind me," she finally said.

Gokudera caught her arm in a rough grip and Haru flinched a bit, but the strength in it didn't lessen. "Be aware of _everything_ around you, stupid woman. Your enemies. Your allies. Even the dog that's crossing the street ahead of you."

"You're going to bruise my arm, Gokudera," Haru said.

"Good, maybe you'll remember next time," Gokudera said, "he could have killed you."

They were garnering a few looks from the people around them and Gokudera slipped the gun into his pocket and his grip eased a little bit. "Just don't be stupid, Judaime would be upset if you got hurt and, as his right hand man, I wouldn't be able to face him."

His hand dropped. "Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir."

Haru gritted the words out and took a deep breath. "We need to turn left up there and then right on Hana Street. The café we're going to is called Hanaki."

Gokudera nodded, but matched his steps to Haru's so that the girl wouldn't be able to get away from him as easily.

Haru could feel her body trying to shake as the realization of what just transpired sank in and she clenched her hand hard, letting the pain of her nails digging into her hand distract her from the fact she could've been killed. Gokudera reached out again and caught her hand and Haru turned to look at him as he pulled her back from the edge of the sidewalk into a quiet area between shops. The silver-haired young man sighed and reached out and pulled her into an awkward embrace. Haru stiffened for a moment before her hands clenched tightly in the material of his Namimori Middle School jacket and she could feel the heaviness of the metal gun in his pocket just below where the material in her hand bunched.

"I-I'm fine," she said firmly. "I just—"

"This is one of the realities you're going to face every day, Haru," Gokudera said, his tone oddly gentle. "Unfortunately, he sought you out, they know who you are. There isn't an escape route anymore."

Haru screwed her eyes shut fighting off the urge to cry, she'd known when she stepped on this path it was a possibility she could find herself on the wrong side of a gun and she knew there would be a point of no return. A tremor shook her body and she gritted her teeth. She. Would. Not. Cry.

"Am I interrupting a liaison?"

The melodic voice interrupted Haru's reverie and her eyes went wide and she abruptly released Gokudera's jacket and whirled around to face Madame Cho. "M-madame Cho, I—"

Gokudera stiffened as a stern-featured woman with black and silver hair secured in a bun with kanzashi similar to the ones that Haru had taken to wearing approached. The intricate butterflies that hung from the pins chimed softly as she cocked her head at them and Gokudera didn't relax when Haru identified her as the one they were meeting. Idly Gokudera wondered if Madame Cho dipped her hairpins in the same tinctures that Haru had—they'd gone over all of Haru's various weapons at one of their early meetings after Gokudera had agreed to help her.

"Yes they are, young Vongola," the woman said, an amused smile crinkling the corners of her dark eyes.

He jumped and his eyes narrowed at the woman wondering if she somehow possessed the same ability to read thoughts the way Reborn did at times. "The question is fairly obvious in your expression, Gokudera-san," Madame Cho said and then focused on Haru. "I was worried that something had happened when you were late, Miura-san, you're never late."

Haru's eyes went to the digital time on one of the signs, it was only a minute past the time they'd planned to meet—Madame Cho must know something. She bowed low. "I'm sorry."

"I think we will be meeting down in the shop today instead of at the café, there are a lot of strangers about," Madame Cho announced. "He'll have to be blindfolded when we reach the entrance point. He hasn't earned this secret."

"What?" Gokudera exclaimed.

"You call it Omerta, yes, Gokudera-san?" Madame Cho said. "Miura-san has earned her place amongst our Clan; you have yet to prove yourself an ally or an enemy. We will not lay our secrets bare to you."

Haru turned her brown eyes up to Gokudera's. "I know it's a lot to ask, but trust me for this, Gokudera?" she said.

Gokudera scowled down at the girl and then turned to the older woman. "If anything happens to us…"

"Nothing will happen to Haru while within the bosom of our Family," Cho stated flatly. "She is one of us. By extension, you will not be harmed during this excursion as long as you make no moves against us, on my Family's honor."

Gokudera took a deep breath and Haru's hand came up to rest uncertainly on his arm. "It's okay, please, Gokudera?" she said quietly.

"Fine," he said.

They moved through the shopping district and paused outside of a couple different shops and Madame Cho moved forward and drew a embroidered handkerchief from one of her pockets and wrapped it tightly around Gokudera's eyes. A small hand slipped into his that he somehow immediately recognized as Haru's. "I'm right here, Gokudera, I won't let go," Haru said.

Every instinct in him screamed danger, but he fought against his instincts to let loose with his dynamite and felt himself tugged into motion. He heard the jingle of a shop bell and he stepped into something that smelled of perfume and the cloth that brushed his hands was usually silk with the occasional scratch of lace. There was a brief conversation murmured between Madame Cho and a person he didn't recognize and another door opened and a grating sound echoed and he stepped into another space that smelled damp.

He kept his ears opened and tried to keep track of the twists and turns. "You'll just get a headache trying to track it," Haru said. "We're headed down though."

"No kidding," Gokudera snorted.

He thought he heard a chuckle that he would attribute to Madame Cho, but fell silent. Before too long he began to pick up sounds ahead and frowned. They stopped and the blindfold was removed and he stared over the bustling undercity and his eyes flashed to Haru in question.

"Welcome to the Underground," Haru said simply.


	6. Ch 5: The Lightning Ring

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Thank you for your patience. Chapter 5 of Oncoming Storm is here for your reading pleasure (I hope).

This chapter introduces a few new things and also introduces a few old friends from _Haru's Resolve_. I have to admit I always feel a bit of uncertainty when I post a big battle scene, but they're always so much fun to write ^_^

Thank you to everyone that has read this story so far and I hope you're enjoying it. The next update should be up sometime between now and April 17th and then I will likely be returning to the every other week schedule I was keeping previously.

As always, Katekyo Hitman Reborn! isn't mine, it belongs to Amano-sensei. All the original characters and the story line are a product of my imagination.

Thanks for reading (and reviewing if you've time ^_^).

Please look forward to my next update.

* * *

**Target 05-02: The Lightning Ring**

The Underground hadn't changed since Haru had initially come to it with Dani what felt like years before, the visible weaponry, the screaming vendors, the multinational crowd, but it wasn't nearly as scary as it used to be. Haru glanced up at Gokudera and saw a scowl starting to form. "You knew this was here and you haven't told us anything about it?" he demanded, glaring at Haru.

Haru lifted her chin and met his eyes. "It's a secret I'm being trusted to keep and I didn't have permission to share it," she said. "Besides, I bet Reborn-san probably already knows about it."

"He does," Madame Cho confirmed. "He hasn't chosen to tell you for reasons of his own, you would do well to back down."

Gokudera took a deep breath and forced his temper down as the two women led the way through the crowd. His eyes were everywhere at once, taking in the various shops, weapons, and people and inwardly shaking his head. This was not a place he expected to find underneath the quiet town that Namimori appeared to be.

"You didn't think the Vongola chose to put a potential heir here for no reason at all, did you, Gokudera-san?" Madame Cho asked.

"Well, I…" Gokudera trailed off.

"You'll find a Vongola face further down the strip," Madame Cho added. "But I wouldn't suggest looking right now. This way, please."

Gokudera stuck close to Haru as they followed Madame Cho down the street. "Who exactly is Madame Cho?" he finally asked quietly, leaning in close to Haru's ear to be heard.

"The Thirteenth Head of the Hanatachi Clan," Haru replied.

"Holy shit."

Haru giggled at his exclamation then abruptly sobered. "My mother was a member of the Hanatachi Clan before I was born."

"I thought you said your mother was an elementary school teacher," Gokudera said.

"She was," Haru replied. "I didn't find out about this part of things until over the winter."

They stopped outside of a rundown shop with a depiction of a butterfly being stabbed through with a needle on the sign. The sign still gave Haru pause as her mind reconciled what she knew of the Hanatachi Clan to its meanings, but they were a Mafia affiliate. She shuddered again as she saw the gun pointed at her in her mind's eye and shoved the thought defiantly aside. She couldn't let that get to her right now.

"Are you okay?" Gokudera asked as Madame Cho opened the door and walked in, holding it open just long enough for the younger two to get by the edge of the door without it slamming in their face.

"Yeah, I'm fine, this is familiar territory," Haru said and a brilliant smile lit her face as a woman in full facepaint emerged from the back. "Akai!"

The woman started and then smiled back. "It's been a while, Haru, how are you? And who is this visitor? Your boyfriend?"

Haru's eyes went wide and she shook her head vehemently. "This is Gokudera, he's Tsuna-san's right hand man. He's a friend."

She used the word 'friend' a bit uncertainly; she wasn't exactly sure what to call the silver-haired hitman to be honest. Some days they got along well and she did consider him a friend, but, other days, they were at each other's throats and she never wanted to acknowledge his existence again. Then there was the factor that he was her teacher in the intricacies of the Mafia world—did one consider one's teacher a friend?

"Please treat me kindly, Gokudera-san, I am Akai," her tutor said and bowed.

"Good afternoon," Gokudera said with an awkward bow, not quite sure what to do with all the Japanese formality.

"We'll be going to the back conference room Kenta," Cho informed the man behind the counter. "Please send word to Giannini that the Vongola Storm Guardian is meeting with us on his own terms. I wouldn't want the Vongola to mount an unnecessary rescue party. There are other things that they need to keep their eye on."

"Yes, ma'am."

Kenta nearly hit his head on the counter and Haru shook her head and caught the sleeve of Gokudera's jacket. "This way."

"I wouldn't call it my own terms, I don't even know how the hell we got here," Gokudera grumbled.

"The Vongola have their own way to get here," Madame Cho said, glancing at the teenagers over her shoulder, "as do all Famiglia and Clans that reside here. Most of the shop fronts are just for cover including the Vongola Machinist Shop."

They headed down the hall to the door with the intricately carved butterfly Haru remembered and she stepped ahead to open it for the Hanatachi Clan Head and Cho gave her a smile and allowed her to do so. She continued holding it for Gokudera and the teenaged boy looked down at her questioningly. "It's called being polite to one's teachers," Haru said. "Get in there. The door's heavy."

Gokudera passed the rest of the way in and Haru followed, the door shutting behind her. Madame Cho settled gracefully at the head of the table and gestured at a couple chairs next to her. "Please, be seated. We are awaiting two others."

Haru looked at Madame Cho questioningly as they sat down. "Dr. Tanpopo?"

"For one," she smiled. "The other is one who will prove useful to you and the current problem we're facing."

There was a knock at the door and it opened revealing a boy that was nearly their age, at least Haru thought it was a boy. He stood just a little taller than her with black hair that fell just past his shoulders and crystal blue eyes that seemed to crinkle in a perpetual smile. "Good afternoon, Madame," he said bowing deeply at the leader of the Hanatachi clan.

"Welcome Nakayama-san, please, take a seat, I will offer introductions in a moment," the Madame smiled at him. "Thank you for coming on short notice."

"It was my pleasure," the boy murmured.

A few minutes later the door opened again and Haru greeted the butter-haired doctor with a smile. "Thank you for coming, Dr. Tanpopo. I'm sorry I couldn't treat you to tea at the café today as I promised," Madame Cho said.

"We'll have to get tea another day then," Tanpopo smiled. "You're looking well, Haru. I haven't seen you in a few weeks."

"I've managed to avoid injury for the time being," Haru said with a smile that immediately died as she remembered what happened on the way to the meeting.

Gokudera watched the new people and the Madame and moved in closer to Haru on instinct as the dark-haired boy's eyes rested on Haru for a moment then turned to Madame Cho. "Miura-san, Gokudera-san, please meet Nakayama Yukihiro-san. Nakayama-san, Miura Haru-san and Gokudera Hayato-san."

Nakayama bowed from his seat, a smile flashing across his fine-featured face. "It is a pleasure to meet you. Please treat me kindly."

Haru bowed herself and repeated the pleasantries and Gokudera mumbled something that could pass for a greeting, but he did not relax even when Akai brought in tea before Madame Cho finally addressed the matter they'd come to talk about.

"There have been rumors of a lot of foreign strangers moving into our territory here in Namimori and we've suffered at least three losses at their hands so far," Madame Cho said. "The intelligence net here in Namimori leaves much to be desired as we have yet to find out who exactly these people are and what their primary target is. Nakayama-san is the son of a dear friend and ally of mine and he's been very kind to offer his services to help us get to the bottom of this."

"My family has been in the information trade for generations," Nakayama said. "We are happy to offer our assistance to get these foreigners off our beloved soil. I only just arrived a little over a week ago and have only started to get the framework of the network in place. It will take a few days to finalize the details, I do hope you will be patient with me."

"Why did they send you to Namimori?" Gokudera scowled.

Nakayama smiled. "Because I'm the best they had available. I do assure you, despite my age, I am quite capable of taking care of what needs to be done."

He turned a brilliant smile on Haru. "I am looking forward to working with you, Miura-san," he said and then directed a darker look at Gokudera. "You have little room to speak, Gokudera-san, did you not nearly allow your junior to be shot merely an hour ago?"

"Hahi!"

Haru's gasp echoed in the room and her hand flew to her mouth as she looked at Nakayama who smiled at her. "That is merely a glimpse at my skills Miura Haru-san. I would be careful on your way home today; the shopping district is turning into a dangerous place."

A silence fell over the room and then the doctor cleared her throat, looking between Nakayama and the young Vongola.

"I will be serving as one of the liaisons between Nakayama-san and your group, Haru," Dr. Tanpopo said. "Please be sure to let all those involved know where to find me. My clinic is _santuario_; it should provide a safe enough place for information to be exchanged without compromising any of our networks."

The teenagers nodded and Haru couldn't help but keep sneaking looks at Nakayama before dragging her attention back to the meeting.

It was getting dark when Haru and Gokudera emerged into the shopping district and, after removing the blindfold, Kenta bowed to Gokudera and Haru. "Be safe on your way home," he said and vanished into the dispersing crowds.

"I don't like that Nakayama," Gokudera growled. "How the hell did he know about that?"

"I don't know, but we're going to need all the help we can get if we want to help Tsuna-san fulfill his mission for Kudaime," Haru said and shivered a bit, her eyes going to the gathering clouds on the western horizon. "We'd better get back, it's going to storm soon."

Gokudera nodded and the two made their way towards Haru's house, Gokudera would be damned if he was going to let Haru walk by herself at least this evening. She seemed to have recovered most of her equilibrium in the meeting, but every now and again he'd see a barely discernible shudder shake her form. Finally, he caught her arm and she glanced up at him in question.

"It's okay to be scared," he finally said after a long moment of silence between them, "but you can't let it keep you from functioning."

"I know," Haru said. "I need to get back to the house, Chrome-chan is coming over to study for the Takanamori exam with me tonight."

Gokudera released her arm and stuffed his hands in his pocket spitting on the ground behind her as she started walking. "Stupid woman," he muttered, his eyes on her back.

Haru focused on the sidewalk ahead of her, remembering to look around as Gokudera had reminded her to, but her mind was racing a million miles per hour as she tried to reconcile everything that had happened so far today.

Both were so preoccupied they were caught completely by surprise as the ground beneath their feet exploded.

Haru was the first to regain her feet and her hands immediately dipped into the outer pocket of her bag to pull out her "playing cards" and the ring on her finger began to spark as she channeled her Dying Will Flames into the cards and threw them at the feet of the men closing in on them and watching them explode, shrapnel leaving cuts on her arm and cheek as she moved in front of Gokudera. She pulled out her box and jammed her ring into it to activate it and the electrical vines sprang up from the ground to block the next incoming attack.

Haru used the momentary lull to race to Gokudera's side finding him slightly dazed from the impact of his head hitting the building that the ground explosion has thrown him into. She reached down and caught his arms. "Gokudera!"

The Storm Guardian shook his head and immediately winced. "What the fuck is that?"

Haru helped him to his feet and turned, pulling the electrical vines back and trying to catch her breath as she pulled out her hair pins and flung them at the man at the forefront of the attacking force. He dodged and caught one of them with a smirk and broke it in half. "You'll have to do better than that," he said and sprang forward.

"Haru MOVE!"

She broke instinctively to the left as sizzling dynamite flew through the air and exploded around their enemy. Gokudera took the front of the attack having activated his Vongola Gear as the dynamite hit their enemy. A purple tinged shield parted and the men moved forward again. "What the hell?" Gokudera growled. "Bastards—"

Haru pulled out the smaller pins and spread them and fed more of her Flames into them and flung them at the ground at the attackers feet causing lightning to chain upwards and three men hit the ground.

She settled behind Gokudera her chest heaving as Gokudera attacked.

There was a crunch behind her and Haru flung herself to the ground with a screamed warning for Gokudera as another man came from the rear. One of Gokudera's bone shields caught the attack and Haru maneuvered herself behind the man and swept his feet out from underneath him and kicking him in the head as he came down. She came to her feet and reached for another card and it arced towards another enemy catching him in an electric current just enough to knock him out.

She activated her box again and the electric vines sprang up around their battlefield as Gokudera took down the rest of the men.

There was a searing pain around her left ring finger as the last attacker fell and she cried out and looked down watching as the shattered pieces of her mother's ring fell onto the sidewalk.

"Haru, are you okay?" Gokudera demanded, once he'd assured himself that the guys were down for good this time.

He crossed the space between them and Haru bent down, her eyes filling with tears as she gathered the pieces. "Did your ring break?" Gokudera asked.

"I-I didn't know they did that…" Haru said, her hands clenching around the pieces.

"They only broke like that if the flames were too strong for the ring's ranking," Gokudera said quietly.

Haru's eyes went wide.

"We'll have to take it to Giannini-san and see if he can fix it," Gokudera said. "For now, let's get you home."

"O-Okay."


	7. Ch 6: The Thunder Rolls

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Greetings! As promised I have a new chapter for you this week-things are starting to heat up a little bit storywise, which is probably good since this is about the halfway point (give or take a chapter). Thank you for your continued patience, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

As always, Katekyo Hitman Reborn! isn't mine, it is the property of Amano-sensei-I've just developed a huge fascination for this particular world. The storyline, original characters, etc. are mine ^_^

Next update will be around May 1st.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story (and to those of you who leave reviews, I very much appreciate it. I'm a little slow on responding to them mostly because this month all my downtime is taken up writing for my Camp Nanowrimo project ^_^ )

~ Yuki

* * *

**Target 06-02: The Thunder Rolls**

Haru wrapped a bandage around Gokudera's head and offered him water and dinner as her father had his late university course tonight. The cuts on both of them had been cleaned and covered with adhesive bandages. "We have to figure out a better way to control those cards of yours, Haru," Gokudera frowned.

Haru nodded and turned her attention to the stir-fry she was making for the evening. Chrome had come over not long after they'd arrived and had put water on for tea and set up the rice-cooker. Haru was grateful that Kyoko had bowed out of tonight's study session in favor of studying with her friend, Hana, for a test at Namimori Middle tomorrow—it had saved them from having to come up with an explanation for the injuries that didn't involve sumo wrestling and shooting stars.

"Were they the Trabuchet again?" Chrome asked softly, pouring the tea into cups and setting them on the table with some over-the-counter painkillers to ease the discomfort.

"I don't know…" Haru said and glanced over at Gokudera.

"I didn't get a good look at any of them, but they were definitely not the same type that attacked us the other day," Gokudera said. "I don't like this."

Haru nodded in agreement and added a little more sauce to the stir fry and flipping it a bit before dumping it onto a serving plate. She set the serving plate on the table and Chrome served up the rice. They ate mostly in silence, Haru lost in her own little world as she felt more of the mafia world crashing down on her and her hands clenched in the apron she'd forgotten to remove after finishing the food. She knew none of her weapons had killed their attackers, they'd been carefully engineered for just that purpose, but the fighting still made her uneasy.

"It's going to be fine, Haru," Gokudera said with forced cheerfulness. "Hang in there."

Haru tried to smile, appreciating the Storm Guardian's efforts. "Haru will be fine," she said forcing energy into her own voice as she pumped her fist in the air. "There is another ring that I might be able to use for a little bit."

Gokudera nodded and they finished the meal and he left a bit more reluctantly than he cared to admit, but Chrome had said she would be staying the night at Haru's so he could find some security in that.

As soon as Gokudera departed, Haru shut the door and leaned back against it sliding down and burying her face in her knees as she finally was able to let all the emotions loose. She hadn't been prepared for any of this, even with Dani's warnings or the warnings of her tutors within the Hanatachi Clan.

For the first time since she'd embarked upon this crazy plan, Haru began to wonder if she really was cut out for the life she was going to have to lead from here on out.

"Haru?"

Chrome hunkered down next to Haru and lightly touched the other girl's brown hair drawing Haru back into reality. Haru lifted her head and accepted the handkerchief that Chrome offered, scrubbing the tears away ferociously. "I don't have time for this," she said.

"Did something happen besides the attack on your way home?" Chrome asked.

Haru met her eyes and the events of the day came tumbling out, words overrunning each other as she spoke. Chrome simply settled on the floor and let Haru talk, listening to everything with her usual calm expression. Finally the words stopped and Haru wiped her eyes again and took a deep, trembling breath. "How do you deal with it?" she asked.

Chrome cocked her head. "My experience was different from yours. Mukuro-sama gave me a place to belong, something I never had before. Being brought into the Vongola gave me people who I care about and want to protect—it's something I never had up until that point. Did I ever tell you about my life before Mukuro-sama?"

Haru slowly shook her head and Chrome rose and offered her hands which Haru accepted and let the younger girl help her up. They moved to the kitchen and cleared the table, put the dishes in the dishwasher, and settled in Haru's room with a new pot of tea and their school books, but did very little homework as Haru listened to Chrome's story.

As the story drew to a close with Chrome's rescue of the cat and the subsequent injuries that landed her in the hospital, Haru fell into a thoughtful silence. She'd never thought about how much of the world had been opened to her through her association with the Vongola Famiglia, even if she hadn't realized what she was getting into the day that she marched down the street in samurai armor to confront Tsuna and test his "fitness to be a mafia boss". She shook her head at herself—it had been arrogant of her to even think she knew the first part about this world.

They finally pulled out the study guides for Takanamori and settled down to study, only vaguely hearing when Haru's father returned home. There was a knock on Haru's door and she got up to answer it and smiled at her father. "Welcome home," she said.

"Good evening, Miura-sensei," Chrome said.

Hiroshi Miura smiled at his daughter and her friend and noted the papers spread over the table and realized they'd been studying. Looking at his daughter's face and arms her frowned. "Haru-san, what happened to you?" he asked.

Haru started and looked down at the bandages on her arm and swallowed, he'd asked her not to tell him anymore lies, but she couldn't give him the truth. Not right now at any rate. "I tripped and fell into a thorn bush when I was out with some friends today," she said, the words ash in her mouth.

"Haru-san you should be more careful," he sighed and gave a smile to Chrome. "Would you two care to join me for a light snack? It will help revitalize you for more studying. I assume that Dokuro-san will be staying the night?"

Haru nodded and glanced at Chrome in question about the snack. The dark-haired girl rose in response. "Thank you very much for your kindness," Chrome said. "I'm sorry to intrude."

Hiroshi shook his head and smiled at her. "I'm glad that Haru-san has such good friends that can be around her and support her," he said.

Twenty minutes later, the girls were back up in Haru's room while her father sat in his favorite chair with his nightly tea and the book he was currently reading. Haru let Chrome have the bath first and set up the futon the other girl often used when she stayed and it occurred to her that they did have another room in the house they could use for guests. She'd have to look into it and see what was needed to make it habitable.

She was getting the last of the studying materials put away when there was a crash downstairs. She automatically grabbed a couple of her hair pins and the ring she'd dug up from when she was training under Dani and raced down the stairs to find her father sprawled on the floor with three men standing over him. "Stay away from my father!" Haru screamed and the pins went flying.

One struck, but the other was dodged.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"You know who we are Miura-san," one smirked. "You've done enough research on us lately."

"Trabuchet…" she whispered.

"Very good," the man smirked. "Now be a good girl and die like you should. This area will be ours."

"Not today."

Chrome's voice seemed to fill the room from everywhere at once and Haru broke to the left like she'd been trained to do so many times with both Gokudera and Chrome. The room warped and Haru slammed her eyes shut, focusing on the feel of the floor beneath her feet and using her memory to pinpoint exactly where her father was. She covered the distance even as the attackers shouts of confusion and then screams of pain echoed. She closed her ears to the sound and found her father's still form, pulling him gently into her lap, knowing that Chrome would easily take out the other threats.

There was a sudden void of silence and Haru opened her eyes to see Chrome in a bath robe leaning on her trident, trying to catch her breath. The men in the room were sprawled out over the place, blood trickling from a few of their mouths and Haru automatically checked for a pulse and breathed a sigh of relief when she felt her father's heartbeat strongly under her fingers.

"Chrome…"

"I'll make the calls," the dark-haired girl said and went to the house phone.

Her eyes darkened for a moment after she picked it up and put it back in place. "Dead, they cut the phone lines."

Chrome pulled out her cell phone instead and made the call and Haru stroked her father's hair, there would be time enough for tears later.

Gokudera's phone buzzed with an incoming text and he scooped it up, wondering who the hell was texting him at this time of night. His eyes widened in horror then narrowed before he grabbed his jacket and jammed his feet into shoes and hurried out the door, barely remembering to grab his keys and lock the door to his small apartment before he headed for the hospital.

Tsuna was awakened abruptly as Reborn's small feet hit his chest and he woke up. "Hiee—Reborn it's—"

"Haru's house was attacked by the Trabuchet," his tutor interrupted him.

All sleep was driven from Tsuna and he sat up abruptly. "What?"

"Her father was injured in the attack and is on the way to the hospital," Reborn said.

Tsuna was out of bed and throwing on a pair of jeans and a shirt before Reborn finished. His tutor handed him his phone and the two were out the door and down the stairs. Tsuna immediately dialed Haru's number, but the recording informed him that the subscriber had either turned off the phone or was out of the calling area and dialed Kyoko's number and wasn't answered.

"Kyoko-chan isn't answering the phone," Tsuna said and dropped into Dying Will Mode and blasted off, flying over Namimori towards the Sasagawa house—his own household should be fine with Bianchi there.

He landed in front of the house and found it completely still and hesitated momentarily before going over the wall and towards the windows. All the lights were out and he glanced at Reborn. "It looks like they're fine," Reborn said. "I'm not sure they would attack the house with Ryohei there anyway."

Tsuna nodded and took off again, landing at Yamamoto's house. The lights there were on and he was greeted by his friend as soon as he landed. "Are you okay, Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked. "I got the message from Chrome…"

"I'm fine. Is everything okay here?" Tsuna asked.

"Nothing happened here either," Yamamoto replied. "Are you headed to the hospital?"

"Yeah," Tsuna said.

"Shall we go together?" Yamamoto said. "I called Gokudera and he's already on his way to the hospital, no one attacked his place either."

Gokudera came through the hospital doors and immediately found Chrome in the waiting room. "Where are they?" he asked.

"They're examining Miura-sensei right now," the dark-haired girl replied. "Haru's in there with him. We'll know as soon as she knows something."

"What happened?" he asked.

Chrome briefed him on the events and Haru emerged several minutes later looking pale and drawn and her dead eyes focused on Gokudera and Chrome and she trudged towards them. "Haru?" Gokudera asked.

"He's in stable condition, but he's still unconscious, they're going to keep him here for a little while to keep an eye on things."

The brunette's voice was oddly emotionless as she relayed the information and Gokudera's eyes darkened. "Who did this?"

"The Trabuchet."

There was a sudden undertone in Haru's voice that Gokudera had never heard before and he met brown eyes that did not promise any sort of forgiveness.

Tsuna, Reborn, and Yamamoto arrived soon after and as soon as she saw the Tenth Vongola Boss, Haru's expressionless mask crumbled and she bolted across the waiting room barreling into the other boy's form.

Tsuna staggered back for a moment before regaining his balance and wrapped his arms around Haru and looked at his second and Chrome. "What happened?" he asked.

"There were three men in the room when I got down there, one of them had been knocked out by one of the kanzashi pins," Chrome said. "They apparently broke through one of the windows and the door and Miura-sensei was hit in the back of the head with something."

Tsuna's arms tightened around the brunette's sobbing form and his eyes flashed orange. "Find them," he ordered, looking at the guardians in attendance.

His eyes moved down to Haru's head. "You shouldn't have gotten into this, Haru," he said softly.

Haru missed school the next day, staying by her father's bedside watching the machines monitor him. The door opened and she turned, expecting to see either Gokudera or Kyoko, but instead Yukihiro Nakayama entered bearing a large arrangement of flowers. "Why are you here?" Haru demanded, rising to her feet and clenching her hand into a fist.

"I came to offer my apologies," Yukihiro said, his crystal blue eyes meeting hers.

"For what?" Haru demanded.

"For not finding out about this before it happened," he said earnestly. "While my network is not completely in place, something like this is unforgiveable."

"If you want to do something, help us find where these Trabuchet are and stop them from doing this to anyone else," Haru said.

"I will find their base and there will not be a single survivor," Yukihiro said.

Haru's eyes widened and she immediately shook her head. "I…no, I don't want them dead, I just don't want them here where they can hurt my father or my friends anymore."

Yukihiro cocked his head at her and then smiled. "As you wish," he said and bowed. "Please take these flowers as my apology and I will be in contact with you soon."

Haru watched him leave and then turned back to her father and settled in the chair by his bedside and reached out and touched his hand, wrapping hers around his and squeezing tightly. "I'm sorry, Papa," she whispered and buried her head in the mattress next to his still form and let the tears fall.

"Where the fucking hell are they?"

Gokudera spat on the ground and pulled out another cigarette and lit it. He drew the smoke into his lungs and held it for a moment letting the burning sensation spread before blowing it back out. He watched the river flowing underneath the footbridge, barely noticing the dark shadows underneath his gray green eyes. After they'd insured that Haru was going to be okay, they'd spent the rest of the night hunting the men that had invaded Haru's home and had come up with nothing. The ambulance that had collected the invaders never made it to the hospital and had been found abandoned that morning with the men who'd been driving it knocked unconscious and tied up in sheets.

After everything opened, he'd wandered around the shopping district trying to figure out where the Underground Entrance was and had failed miserably. He'd sent word through appropriate channels that he had a ring that needed to be fixed, but hadn't heard anything back yet. All in all, he was feeling particularly useless and it pissed him off.

He ground out the cigarette and tossed the butt in the trash before he started walking again, ignoring the protests of his feet as he made his way towards Haru's house to see if there were any more clues to be picked up. He arrived and found it still swarming with policemen and turned and flagged down a cab to the hospital to check on Haru instead. Tsuna had insisted on walking Kyoko to and from school today and Yamamoto had baseball practice.

He arrived and got directions to the appropriate room and opened the door to find Haru's face buried in her father's sheets and he stepped forward hesitantly and touched her hair. "Haru?"

The brunette stirred and lifted her tearstained face and Gokudera's breath caught. "Haru, I—"

Her finger came up and touched his lips. "It's not your fault," she said, dropping her hand a moment later.

She rose and touched her father's cheek lightly. "I'll be back," she said. "Come with me?"

Gokudera frowned, Haru sounded oddly self-possessed and her eyes weren't quite as dead as they'd been the night before. They passed the elaborate flower arrangement and Gokudera idly wondered who'd sent it, but the thought was fleeting as he followed Haru out. She shut the door behind her quietly and caught one of the nursing staff. "I'm going to eat in the hospital cafeteria."

The nurse nodded. "We'll page you if there is a change between now and when you get back."

"Thank you."

Haru led the way down, following the signs to the cafeteria and glanced at Gokudera. "If you see something you want to eat. Go ahead and pick it up. I can pay," she said.

Gokudera limited himself to a cup of coffee and watched Haru silently as she collected a small salad, crackers, and tea for herself. They found an unoccupied table in the back of the cafeteria and sat down. "I need to learn more, Gokudera," Haru said, her voice barely carrying across the table.

"Haru?"

There was a question in his voice and Haru crumbled one of the saltines silently.

"I can't get out, so I need to learn faster," Haru said, her brown eyes meeting Gokudera's.

"If we could find a way to get you out, would you take it?" Gokudera asked, he knew there had to be a way to simply make Haru disappear so that she wouldn't have to deal with this ever again.

Haru's fingers stopped for a moment—she couldn't deny that the idea was kind of tempting, but likely disappearing meant finding a new life somewhere else and she didn't want to make that kind of decision for her father and she wouldn't abandon him. Plus disappearing would likely mean she'd never see Tsuna, Gokudera, Kyoko, Chrome, or any of the kids again and she couldn't imagine her life without them in it. "No."

"No?" Gokudera repeated.

"No, I wouldn't take it, not unless there wasn't any other choice in the matter," Haru said, sprinkling the cracker crumbs over the salad she really had no intention of eating.

Gokudera was almost relieved at her response and decided he'd examine that particular emotion later.

"I've been thinking about it since the doctors said that Father was going to be okay," Haru said quietly.

"About what?" Gokudera asked.

"Why they're so intent on me," Haru said.

"You're important to Judaime and if they can't get to Judaime they're trying to get at him through other means," Gokudera said.

"I understand that that's part of it," Haru said, "and I'd rather it be me rather than Kyoko or the kids, but…I wonder if there's something more to it than just that."

"Like what?" Gokudera asked.

Haru related the night before in a detached voice and Gokudera frowned a bit afterwards. "I need to go back through what I found while Dani was tutoring me," Haru said. "I have to wonder if there's something there that I've missed and it has them worried or if we've found something else. First though, I need to find a way to make sure they don't hurt my father again."

Two days later, Haru's father woke from his coma and after reassuring Haru that he just had a headache and the doctor's assuring her that the chances of anything else happening were slim, Haru went home for a change of clothes.

While they'd been at the hospital, the insurance had come in and repaired the broken window and door and Haru made a note to get the locks changed.

When she arrived, she found Chrome sitting on a large bag in the middle of the sidewalk leading up to the house and came up short. "Chrome?" Haru asked.

"I will be moving in as of today," Chrome announced.

Haru blinked and frowned at her friend. "What about your apartment?"

"I've already given it up," Chrome said.

"But…" Haru began.

"You're too vulnerable alone here," Reborn said. "These are Kudaime's orders. We will be making appropriate arrangements with your father as soon as he's further recovered."

Haru glanced sharply at the toddler who was sitting on the wall in front of her house regarding her calmly. "Reborn-san…"

"You can't do this on your own," Reborn stated flatly and hopped down from the wall. "Let your Family help you."


End file.
